In the early stages of AP evolution, much attention is spent learning new things. Many APs are eager to be taught “secret” plays and techniques, and to needlessly complicate plays that they haven’t yet mastered. How many forum posts have you read from novice card counters wondering if they should “upgrade” to a level-two counting system or complex side counts?

This is natural at the early stages, but as you accumulate skill and experience, you’ll find that there’s much more value in recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses, and tailoring your approach to them.

Of course, this gives you the opportunity to improve. If you can count down a six-deck shoe in a minute-twenty but you can’t recall the correct index for A8 vs. 4, then you know what you need to work on.

More importantly, knowing and being honest about your weaknesses helps to keep you from getting into marginal spots that can prove to be very costly. You’ve heard the expression that someone knows just enough about something to get into trouble. This applies extra to APs!

No matter how strong you think your game is, mistakes can prove to be a massive problem. An overestimation of your own skills will produce mistakes, which typically both lower your edge and increase your variance—two things we work very hard to avoid in most cases.

A lot of this comes down to ego. I see it especially in cases involving team play, where one player wants to impress the other with their apparent skill, but it’s also common amongst ambitious solo players, many of whom seem to be perpetually “below EV.”

If you think you have something to prove to yourself or to others, I’d suggest re-evaluating your objectives. The most impressive APs, in my opinion, are the ones who have gone in and got the money, over and over again, no matter how simple the means. They don’t need to put on a show because that’s not what they’re in business to do.

It’s neat hearing about unusual, niche plays that are completely outside the box, but these don’t always correlate with long-term success. In fact, some of the more obscure plays I’ve learned about came courtesy of players who also have a tendency to get in over their heads, playing under conditions that even more skilled players would pass on, and perpetually overbetting in high-variance, low-edge situations.

These guys fancy themselves to be really high-end APs: always on top of new plays, and always mixed up in stuff that seems brilliant on the surface. But their determination to outdo themselves is dangerous, and their willingness to gamble in marginal spots can be a liability if they work as part of a team.

If you know your weaknesses and are honest with yourself, you can avoid these kind of problems. But there’s another side to the coin, and that’s playing to your strengths.

It’s tempting to get wrapped up in new, sexy plays, but if you’re really good at a particular play, don’t be afraid to specialize for a bit. Avoiding becoming a one-trick pony is a good idea, but getting involved in a series of plays less valuable than the one you specialize in just because you feel compelled to diversify is generally not good policy.

Having bread-and-butter plays that you devote the majority of your time to will make things a lot easier. You can always work on new stuff, too, but you may find it more reasonable to spend 20% of your time on it, instead of 50%. Don’t give up too much value just because you’re afraid of specializing.

Prioritize the stuff you’re good at, and work on your weaknesses in your downtime, not at the tables. The money will be steadier, the work less stressful, and the end result a more solid AP foundation. As in many other ventures in life, checking your ego at the door will pay off in the long run.

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Blake Phillips is a professional advantage player and contributing editor to AP Street. Contact him at bp@apstreet.com

If you were going into business in the traditional sense, you would hopefully research your target demographic and see what they’re buying, so to speak. In order to reach your potential customers most effectively, you have to give them what they want, in a way that ideally isn’t too different than what they’re accustomed to.

As an advantage player, your customers are casinos. You’re selling them a false narrative (that you’re a legitimate gambler), and you can most effectively do this by presenting this narrative in a way that they recognize and are comfortable with.

A couple of months ago, I took a look at a few of the common AP tells (“Don’t Look Like an AP“), in an effort to shine a light on some of the ways that APs give themselves away to the astute observer. Now, let’s take a more active approach and intentionally adopt the mannerisms and behaviors of the gamblers you’re trying to blend in with.

The first thing to take into consideration is that gamblers aren’t the same in all parts of the world, or across different levels of play. A high-stakes gambler in Macau is usually going to appear very unlike a high-stakes gambler in Atlantic City. The average red-chipper in a tourist town like Vegas would probably look a little out of place in the middle of Iowa.

When doing your market research, spend some time observing gamblers playing similar stakes to you in the region you’re playing in. How do they dress? How do they interact with the dealers, pit crew, and cocktail staff? How do they carry themselves at the table, and what is their interaction with other gamblers like? What are their betting tendencies? Look at hands, body language, and facial expressions. Listen in on some conversations.

I once played at an unfamiliar casino in a somewhat rural locale. Since I planned to play on the main floor, I took a stroll around the tables and noticed that a big chunk of the players were drinking a specific type of beer that was served in a fairly unusual way (sorry, you’ll have to use your imagination). I also took note of how many people wore baseball hats, whether or not people wore jackets or coats in the casino (it was warm outside but cold inside), and how the players interacted with the dealers and each other. When I came back to play, I like to think that I blended in reasonably well.

Another time, I played in a casino where I anticipated some high-stakes action. There were plenty of high rollers to observe, so I spent some time in the high limit room to get a sense of the high-stakes vibe at this particular property. I found that the big players here tended to dress extremely casually, blending in with the lower-stakes gamblers on the main floor. If I didn’t know any better, I might have showed up with a more upscale look, but instead, I kept it casual and fit right in.

Spend a little time doing your homework before you play, and you can avoid being the green-chipper in an off-strip local’s joint wearing a suit and setting off alarms before you even sit down to play. Instead, you’ll sell the casino exactly what they’re in the market for. And that’s just plain good business.

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Blake Phillips is a professional advantage player and contributing editor to AP Street. Contact him at bp@apstreet.com

No, I’m not suggesting you should sit in silence, playing in an expressionless an robotic manner. Good acts are valuable, and cultivating the right table image can pay dividends. Emphasis: good acts; the right table image.

New APs tend to spend a lot of time thinking about their acts, but much of that is time wasted. In fact, a lot of the stuff that gets utilized by new APs under the guise of presenting a carefully calculated image to the casino can actually be a red flag.

How many 20-somethings in suits, dressed to the nines, do you see in casinos betting money? I can almost guarantee you that anyone fitting this description that’s not betting quarters or less is an AP. Bonus points if they’re wearing a suit with slip on sneakers.

Even more of a red flag is the table talk that gets passed off as an act. You want the casino to think you’re a degenerate? Then play like one! Your endless remarks about the “flow of the cards” and other such nonsense only serve as an indicator that you’re an observant player who is paying attention to the game.

Civilians that do this get the pass because their style of play is a clear indicator that they believe what they say. When APs engage in voodoo theories, they’re eventually forced to contradict their premises. They’re setting themselves up to get caught in a lie.

I recently played at a table with a couple of players who were obviously not complete squares. They weren’t APs, but they likely had a small edge on the game they were playing. The decision-maker in this crew absolutely would not shut up, commenting on every turn of the cards and spouting off countless inane theories that he clearly didn’t actually believe.

Not five minutes after carefully “explaining” to his partner that dropping his bet size was a good idea because of the current flow of the cards, this player went on a rant about how gamblers shouldn’t be superstitious. His commentary and inevitable self-contradiction made their play more conspicuous, not less.

The thing is, acting is actually really hard, and most of us aren’t at all good at it. Every time we make a statement that we don’t believe, or give a false answers to a question, we’re increasing the probability of getting caught in a lie. When we wear ridiculous costumes or indulge in over-the-top acts, we’re only fooling the simplest of the simple. There are lots of people out there that can spot a phony, and some of those people also happen to work in casinos.

If the pit boss asks where you’re from and you answer with a city you know nothing about, you’d better hope they—or anyone else at the table—are not familiar with it either. If someone asks what you do for a living and you respond with a job you can’t speak about in great detail or that doesn’t match up with your table image, then you’re asking for trouble. If your act is far removed from your real personality and you’re not an accomplished method actor, then I’d bet you’re fooling people as well as you may think you are.

Instead, I recommend keeping your mouth shut. Talk about stuff that you know and are legitimately interested in. When you feel compelled to toss some nonsense into the conversation, think twice. You’ll get away with it most of the time, but eventually you’ll put yourself in a tough spot, and one that’s almost certainly unnecessary.

In my opinion, the best acts are the ones that are hardly acts at all. That’s not any new insight—I’ve heard and read the same from multiple APs. But it’s absolutely true: if your act is just a slightly different version of your actual self, then you’re far less likely to get caught in a lie.

Casino surveillance folks have an acronym for players and actions that appear a little off—JDLR:just doesn’t look right. Visually, something is out of place, and operators with good JDLR sense will take a little extra time to watch someone if they set it off.

At the tables, the words that come out of your mouth are the actions that set off JDLR alarms.

A fidgety character betting minimum on a table that’s bleeding chips to a big play, while compulsively looking up at the cameras is going to get a closer look from an alert surveillance operator. A kid at the table talking up an implausible career and expounding on various gambling superstitions while playing flawless basic strategy isn’t going to smell right to an alert dealer, or floor person, or pit boss, or civilian eager to poke holes in the story once the player leaves the table for a bathroom break.

Keep it simple, stick with what you know, and unless you’re extremely confident that what you’re saying doesn’t carry the risk of setting off any bullshit detectors, just keep your mouth shut.

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Blake Phillips is a professional advantage player and contributing editor to AP Street. Contact him at bp@apstreet.com

Is it 20/20 vision? A dextrous hand? A mind like a steel trap, lightning-fast counting skills, and an act that could fool even the most jaded pit boss?

Nope. It’s a strong network.

As an AP who is not particularly talented in any specific aspect of advantage play, there’s no question that my lifetime earnings have been heavily influenced by the strength of my network. I think my more naturally-gifted colleagues would tell you the same about themselves. For any AP, a strong network is the best and most reliable source of cold, hard EV.

This isn’t about being a leech; in fact, it’s anything but. If you’re honest, make fair deals, are easy to work with, and do your best to contribute whenever possible, you’ll likely be blessed with a wide network of players willing to share information and work with you. It’s never a one-way street—players who treat it as one will soon find themselves at a dead end.

There are players out there who are very bright and are unquestionably able to beat games on their own but that are giant pains in the ass to work with—or worse, completely dishonest crooks—and so they’re often stuck working alone, or working exclusively with green APs who haven’t caught wind of their reputation yet.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the AP biz is extremely reputation-based. If you give other APs a raw deal, it won’t take long for other APs to find out. Aside from the immediate implications of being a total asshole, you’re also heavily stunting your earning ability.

For the shot-takers, liars, and all-around shady APs who conduct themselves in this manner, I have no particular advice. You’ll be out of business soon, anyway.

But there are a lot of APs who mean well and still find themselves battling a questionable reputation. You don’t want to be one of these guys. Prevention is the best medicine.

One of the biggest gripes I hear about other APs is that they’re difficult or unpleasant to work with. This can range from trying to change deals during a trip due to playing with scared money, to splitting hairs over literal pennies during chops. If you’re sweating a few extra bucks amongst a play worth thousands, rest assured there are a lot of other guys out there who are more easygoing and just as capable as you willing to take your spot.

I don’t mean to suggest that you should be willing to be walked on by other APs, but often, differences of opinion will arise when it comes to splitting expenses and things of that nature. I stay flexible in situations like these, and it’s no coincidence that the people I work with consistently do the same. We’re not out to game each other, and we know that.

That leads to my next point: always make clear deals. I’ve been in situations before where disputes have arisen over non-minor things, like jackpot payouts, missing chips, and chop percentages after a game has already been secured.

In these kind of cases, I’ve generally been willing to give both sides the benefit of the doubt. Given the character of the APs involved, I don’t think anyone was angling dishonestly, but a major dispute still occurred, sometimes requiring mediation by an unbiased third party. In some cases, these disputes have hurt working relationships between impeccably honest APs.

The solution is to cover all the bases before the start of a play, or a trip, or a partnership. Account for as many possibilities as you can. Plan for the unexpected.

What happens if a teammate loses a purple chip while walking to the casino? What happens if a teammate is robbed in the parking garage? What’s the deal if one teammate starts a trip a day early and another starts a day late but stays a day extra? If someone wins a drawing for a new car while playing a session as part of a team, how is that handled?

The answers will vary from player to player, so talk about them before they happen—hopefully the bad ones won’t—and make sure you’re on the same page. The more you plan for, the fewer potential surprises you need to worry about, and the less likely it will be that you’ll have a disagreement that could hurt your working relationship.

Your network with other APs is your strongest asset, and it will usually be more consistent and valuable than any cache of secret games or individual skills you’ll ever develop. Plan ahead, be flexible, don’t be a jerk, and keep building that network with your good name and your easy-to-work-with attitude.

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Blake Phillips is a professional advantage player and contributing editor to AP Street. Contact him at bp@apstreet.com

Remaining anonymous in the casino is an important part of the job for many APs—namely, ones who would get thrown out or backed off if the casino knew their real name (myself included).

Sometimes, I still have to show ID to play, and this is because some crazy people apparently think I look like I could be under 21. It happens less and less, and eventually I’ll probably wish it would still happen and it won’t. Still, getting ID’d for age is often an issue for APs in their mid-30s or younger..

I know when I’m getting carded for age rather than some other nefarious reason because I’m asked either by a dealer as soon as I sit down or by a door person carding me and everyone else as they enter the casino. Occasionally, a cashier may ask for ID to confirm age as well, although that’s far less likely than the other two, and it’s is not always an innocuous age verification.

Sometimes, a casino may use your youthful appearance as a ploy to demand ID to either confirm you are who they think you are before taking action against you, or to find out who you are so they can add a name to the 86ing you’re about to receive. Knowing the difference between types of ID checks is important.

So how do you know the difference?

Generally, any ID for age is done by either a table games dealer or a security guard stationed at the entrance. However, if you’ve been playing for a while and a pit boss suddenly appears and asks you for your ID because you “look young,” this is likely an escalating heat situation.

Ditto if you’re approached just walking through the casino. Unless you look like a legitimate juvenile, this is almost always not good; you should generally leave without giving up ID in both of these situations.

Sometimes this may actually happen as a legitimate age verification, but that’s very unlikely and has never personally happened to me. I would err on the side of caution.

In some age verification situations, it’s possible for surveillance to look at your ID after they become suspicious of you just by running the tape back. Once they see your name and confirm it’s one they don’t like, you’re screwed.

This does happen, but it’s pretty rare. Sometimes leaving the same way you came in and telling the ID checker you “forgot something in your car and will be right back” is enough to thwart the cameras. If they do roll the tape back, they would likely only go back to your re-entry, which should hopefully have been ID-free, assuming the same person is working and remembers checking your ID the first time around. Sometimes, though, power-tripping security guards will ID you again anyway, so this doesn’t always work.

In cases where an ID check is likely, it may be helpful to know that a passport is somewhat harder to read than a driver license from the EITS (eye in the sky). I always bring a passport to places that ID at the door for this reason, and also because some places do not scan passports but do scan ID cards.

There are also a handful of casinos that automatically check your name and/or face versus a database of undesirables when they scan your ID at entry, or even sometimes at the players club. These are places you just can’t play in if you’re in the database they are checking and look young enough to get ID’d at the door.

I’ve been instantly 86’ed at these casinos, as have others I know. We simply can’t play them until we look older. If you’re in this situation and are thinking about showing a fake ID to get into places, DON’T. It’s too risky. The software casinos use at the door is great at picking off fakes.

Any time I play a session where I plan to bet an amount that could result in a big swing, I prefer to use a BP playing rated in their real name, or I play in my real name, if possible. It’s much easier to buy in for whatever amount you need to get the job done, cash out when you’re done, and be on your way.

Of course, a lot of times this isn’t possible, leaving the alternatives of playing unrated, or playing under an alias. In both of these situations, you may end up with a pile of chips. What do you do with them?

Cash them?

In this scenario, you give up your name at the cage and do the required paperwork to get your money. This can be a tricky situation, but sometimes it’s the best move.

I once hit a large carnival game jackpot while playing unrated at a little, out of the way dump. They paid me in $500 chips, which had to be brought to the table just for this hand, as they don’t regularly stock them in the trays.

I knew they used databases I’m in, and I knew if they decided to check them for my name they wouldn’t be happy. But, if I cashed now I would still get paid and wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with the chips, so I went right to the cage and cashed them without incident. The downside tis that I almost certainly can’t return there until they forget who I am.

Another situation where It may be best to just cash out is when a play gets made and a casino obviously knows your real name and decides to 86 you. I believe that most of the damage is already done and I would rather not be stuck with a bunch of chips I have to worry about.

Sure, they may get some better pictures, but unless you have an acquaintance that wants the chips, it’s going to be a pain in the ass to deal with them. If I have a big pile of chips and it’s obvious the casino is 86ing me because they realize who I am, I generally just cash them. My name, face, and SSN have plenty of heat already; whatever extra damage they can do was probably already done when they figured out who I was and decided to 86 me.

Don’t cash them?

If the casino doesn’t know who you are but is 86ing you for the play, then the best way to avoid your name getting heat is to just leave immediately. At this point, the casino really wants to know who you are so they can add a name to your file, flyer, or database entry. If you give up ID to anyone, they will definitely make use of the info.

If the casino doesn’t know who you are and you can continue to play there because of this fact, it is best to go on not letting them know who you are as long as they continue to let you play. In this case, it’s best to avoid showing the casino your ID for as long as possible.

You may consider keeping a running chip inventory for use when playing at that casino, cashing it all out when you’re no longer welcome or otherwise done playing there. There are other alternative options in this situation, but I will leave those for you to consider.

Occasionally, you’ll play a session with no scrutiny, no heat, and no suspicion coming from the dealer, the pit, or surveillance. More often, and especially as you engage in higher-stakes play, your presence will be a source of curiosity amongst casino personnel at best, and a serious source of immediate concern at worst.

You are essentially presenting the casino with a puzzle: who you are, and whether or not you’re a desirable player. Do you want your puzzle to be a children’s jumbo jigsaw, or a 2000-piece borderless jigsaw with no box image and extra pieces?

Much has been said about various tactics to keep casino staff guessing. There are lots of things you can do that make you look less like an AP—drinking alcohol, tipping, talking a lot, not paying attention to the cards, and so on. But there are just as many things you can not do that will also add a little bit of complexity to your puzzle.

1. Phones. If there’s one leak that the entire advantage play community has, it’s gratuitous cell phone usage. Don’t get me wrong—cell phones are crucial in this business; they’re one of the most powerful tools we have. But do you really need to be checking your phone under the table every two minutes?

Look at other gamblers in the casino. How many of them are glued to their phones while playing? Not many, because they’re engrossed in the game they’ve decided to play. They’re there to escape reality, not to indulge in by checking their phone compulsively.

It’s even worse if you have a partner at the table doing the same nonstop phone checking under the table. It looks extremely suspicious, and it helps surveillance put you together.

Oh, and holding your phone at an upright angle and/or covering it with your other hand to hide the screen from surveillance cameras looks stupid, and it’s a 100% guarantee that anyone doing this is an AP. Knock it off.

2. Paying attention. Most civilians aren’t attached to their phones while playing because they’re wrapped up in playing! I know it’s boring as a non-civilian to sit at a table all day and play cards, but you need to at least pretend to care about what’s going on.

Sitting in the same spot for eight hours and spending nearly all of that time staring at the TV and checking your phone tells casino staff that you’re not really there to gamble for fun, and you’re not there to satisfy your craving for action, either. So why are you there? Is that a question you want the pit crew and surveillance to ask themselves?

3. Handling cash. Watch gamblers at the table, especially high rollers. If they’re not playing with a credit line (i.e., using markers), how do they handle buy-ins?

Here’s a hint: they definitely don’t sneakily pull a money belt out of their pants and count money by touch under the table. Counting money under the table is an AP thing. Having money neatly separated into set amounts across several pockets is an AP thing. Using a money belt in view of the cameras is a really ridiculous AP thing.

Pulling out a wad of cash in a rubber band is more “normal.” Pulling it out of your wallet is even more so. Be normal.

4. Blatant dealer-play correlation. We’ve all done it, and many of you are doing it now. You like playing against a particular dealer but not so much against their relief. So when the relief shows up, you immediately take a 15-minute long bathroom break. Or, you drop your bet to 1/10 the size of your standard wager.

Is it really worth the savings here? Could you time your breaks a little more strategically—perhaps leaving a little earlier and sometimes not leaving at all? Could you afford to fade the 0.7% house edge on your standard wager size for 20 minutes so that you can keep it steady with a 5% edge for the next hour? Can you employ some game slowing techniques instead of dropping bets to a comically low level or appearing as if you have a serious drug and/or constipation problem?

If you want to look like a civilian, do things that civilians do. And better yet, don’t do things that APs do. By thinking about this from both perspectives, you create a much more difficult puzzle for the casino to solve, and that’s money.

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Blake Phillips is a professional advantage player and contributing editor to AP Street. Contact him at bp@apstreet.com

Anyone who has played professionally has heard the term heat or heard a casino described as sweaty. Although those terms are related, there’s a big difference between getting heat and getting sweat from a casino, and it’s important to be able to recognize which is which.

Heat: The casino is not happy, they don’t like what’s going down, and there’s a good chance you will be backed off or 86’ed soon. Common signs include phone conversations about you, multiple suits coming in and out of the pit and taking an obvious interest in you, and repeated requests for a players card after you have already declined.

You may even experience a pit boss standing behind you, trying to see what you’re doing, or rifling through the discards. Worse yet, you might see a pit boss standing on the floor outside of the pit, waiting for security to arrive so they can walk you out. I once had a pit boss sit next to me at a table right before a hand was dealt, to see if I was doing what he thought I might be doing. That was definitely heat.

Sweat: The casino may not be happy, but it’s just because they don’t like your action for what could be a number of reasons. They probably don’t know the play (at least not right away, unless you’re straight counting) and they probably aren’t going to take any action against you without further investigation (which may or may not occur).

Pit personnel in sweaty casinos act like they know you’re up to something—whether or not they actually do—when you hit a certain betting level or win threshold, or even just because you fit the AP profile. Casinos that sweat are generally the lower end places: in Las Vegas, think Jerry’s Nugget, Cannery, Hooters, etc. Go into one of these places and start betting $500 unrated, and you will likely see some sweat.

I call this procedural sweat. The casino goes through these same motions for any unknown player betting what they see as big money.

So how do you determine which one you’re getting? Unfortunately, there’s no cut and dry answer; a lot of it comes from experience. There are, however, a few things to consider that might help you figure it out:

What is the tolerance level and attitude of the place you are playing?

If I flat bet $300 on blackjack at a high end casino that has similar action all over the floor, I don’t expect much attention at all. So if I suddenly start getting a lot of obvious attention, it’s likely heat. If I take that same action to a casino that mostly gets low roller action, they are likely going to immediately act like something big is going down and run all over the pit making phone calls, asking for a players card, and so on. Here, I would attribute this to standard casino sweat.

Have you played at this casino before?

If yes, is this an attitude change for the casino? Did they used to be happy to see you but are suddenly giving you the cold shoulder or acting as if the roof is on fire? This is likely heat.

If no, and you have reason to believe that your face and/or name are clean at this place, then this is likely procedural sweat.

Did the casino’s attitude noticeably change hours into the session, or has it remained constant?

If it changed, this could be heat, or it could be due to other factors, like win amount or buy in amount. These, of course, are not mutually exclusive.

If it remained constant, then the casino is likely just sweating you. it is their procedure to sweat, and they won’t stop until you leave. If you’ve already played for a couple of hours and nothing has changed, you’re probably OK to continue.

Have you had any backoff or 86ing incidents recently (or ever) in the same region?

If you’ve had recent trouble, then any negative attention given right away is likely heat and the result of a flyer from the offending casino. In some regions, the only way to avoid further issues is to just leave town because you are done everywhere (unless you’re good at very drastic look changes).

If you’ve had trouble in the area but not recently, then it’s of course harder to tell. I would generally play through it unless I saw signs of obvious heat.

If you haven’t had any trouble recently, then any attention that occurs right away—assuming you are not using a dirty name and are not a notorious/recognizable player—is likely sweat.

That last point is an entire issue altogether. If your name and/or face are well known by casino personnel, things can be a lot trickier. I will save that discussion for another post.

Imagine you are walking the Vegas strip with your buddies and stopping at casino bars along the way to have some $15 drinks. At your current stop you notice that the people playing bar top blackjack aren’t paying for their drinks. You look at the machine: it’s Game King BJ, $1 denomination.

You figure you might as well gamble the $15 and get a “free” drink, hoping to win, break even, or lose less than $15. At least there’s a chance of coming out better than you would if you just gave up the $15 without trying, right?

Now, these bar top BJ machines are usually terrible for the player, with a casino house edge of around 5 percent on average. Against a 5% house edge, if you play correctly and bet in $1 increments, you expect to lose just $0.05 a hand in the long run.

As long as you play fewer than 300 hands per $15 drink, this is a money-saving venture. You may not realize it, but this is an advantage play.